‘Settlers Are Not Civilians’: Yale Professor Defends Hamas Terrorism

Zareena Grewal, an American studies professor at Yale University, defended tactics used by Hamas following its invasion of Israel on Saturday morning.

“Settlers are not civilians. This is not hard,” Grewal wrote in response to a Sky News journalist’s tweet insisting: “Civilians are civilians are civilians, doesn’t matter where.”

Grewal’s message came on the heels of earlier comments written in the early hours following the surprise invasion of Israel, which blamed the Jewish State for its policies leading to the mass death of its own civilians.

“My heart is in my throat. Prayers for Palestinians. Israeli is a murderous, genocidal settler state and Palestinians have every right to resist through armed struggle, solidarity #FreePalestine,” the academic wrote on Saturday morning as news emerged of Hamas atrocities involving the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians.

Grewal’s comments led a Yale student, Netanel Crispe, to petition the university to remove the professor from her post for “Promoting LIES and VIOLENCE.” “Freedom of Speech cannot be abused. And when one is in a position of authority and power, they must be held responsible for that speech. Speech that promotes, advocates, or supports violence, murder, or terrorism cannot and should never be tolerated,” the student wrote on Change.org post, which has received over 17,000 signatures so far.

In the intervening days, Grewal has retweeted approvingly of the kidnapping of women at a music festival, people queuing up in Ben Gurion International Airport fleeing the country, and “suicide drones” employed by Hamas during their raid on Israel.

According to Grewal’s profile on Yale’s website, she is “a historical anthropologist and a documentary filmmaker whose research focuses on race, gender, religion, nationalism, and transnationalism across a wide spectrum of American Muslim communities.” Grewal has received research funding from both the Fulbright and the Luce Foundations.

The academic has yet to remove or recant any posts from her X account, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter. The cover photo on Grewal’s account shows protesters carrying a sign emblazoned with “Capitalism Is Haram.”